


The iPod Named Derek Hale

by wingedkiare



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fairies, First Kiss, Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, Oblivious Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 22:10:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1112095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingedkiare/pseuds/wingedkiare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set Post Season 3A, ignores everything onward.</p><p>In the middle of a sleepless night, Stiles had the brilliant idea to name his new iPod after Derek.  But he never meant for Derek to find out, and never even stopped to think why he'd picked Derek's name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The iPod Named Derek Hale

**Author's Note:**

> Set post 3a, in their senior year. (I didn't mention it, but it's spring break)
> 
> If you read the version posted to my Tumblr, I fixed some weird spelling/grammar. If you notice anything really weird, let me know!

The rules for negotiating with faeries were surprisingly intricate. Stiles had been reading the same anecdote for the last half hour and was pretty sure he was still missing some aspect of it. He wondered if maybe he should be looking at law programs in the fall instead of anthro.

Scott and Derek were busy looking through the bestiary, which Stiles has been fleshing out with more information about creatures beyond how to trap and kill them. Peter’s bestiary included diplomacy, at least.

“So I think if we-“

“Stiles,” Derek said sharply.

He looked up, trying to figure out what Derek was objecting to, since he hadn’t even gotten to his suggestion.

“Why is this iPod named after me?” They’d closed out the bestiary, leaving iTunes open.

“Uh, it’s Scott’s?” Stiles sat up, trying to put a little more distance between him and Derek.

“Why is that not a lie?” Derek looked at Scott.

Scott, the traitor, laughed as he ejected it from the laptop. “When my iPod crapped out a month ago, he let me have it since he’d bought a new one.”

“You were supposed to rename it,” Stiles hissed.

“Still not answering my question.” Derek’s eyebrows dipped down into a sharp V. Which was getting dangerously close to tearing-out-your-throat or wall-slamming.

“It was funny,” Stiles said with a shrug, hoping he was coming off sort of nonchalant. “And I told my dad the name. So I could say stuff like, I’m going on a run with Derek. Or, do you think a two story fall would kill Derek?” Plus, it was hilarious every time you had to update it. _Do you want to update Derek Hale?_ His dad had thought the whole thing was weird, but assumed it was just Stiles being Stiles.

“Out of every single name out there, why me? And I know it has nothing to do with your dad, you haven’t been lying to him for a year now.” Derek kept staring, his hazel eyes somehow more intimidating than the beta blue.

“Scott?” Stiles glanced at his best friend, waiting for some help.

“And it’s disconnected, so I’m out of here.” Scott took the iPod and ran towards the open bedroom door.

“You’re a terrible friend, and a lousy Alpha,” Stiles shouted as Scott disappeared down the hallway. He took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to word it without it sounding worse than it all was. “Look, it was 3 am when I set it up. I have no impulse control in the middle of the night.”

“As opposed to the rest of the time.”

Stiles reached for his phone, ignoring Derek’s stare to hammer out a quick text to Scott. “There, I told him to rename it. No more electronic namesakes.”

Derek had leaned back in the chair, but didn’t seem to be relieved.

Still, Stiles took the opportunity to change the subject and went back to the book, running his hand through his hair. “If we approach the fairies with some sort of a token that they might not try to fuck with us.”

Derek stood, reaching to grab his jacket. “Then tell Scott. I’m gonna-“

“Go. Stupid to talk about this if the Alpha isn’t here.” He waved his hand, trying not to look at Derek’s face. He had a feeling it was back to the old school Glare of Doom, and didn’t want to think they’d backslid to his sophomore year. “I didn’t do it to be mean.”

“Then why?”

“I-“ Stiles caught himself. There wasn’t any way to say that his last iPod was named Lydia without Derek jumping to the wrong conclusion. He had to look up, so that Derek could see he meant it. “It just wasn’t mean, okay?” He wished he hadn’t looked, Derek wasn’t glaring. He looked hurt, which was a million times worse.

“Okay.” Derek glanced at the window, then headed out the door. Like a normal member of society, which was still weird.

“WTB TARDIS,” he murmured as he reached for his phone, waiting until he heard Derek’s car pull away from the house to call.

Scott picked up on the third ring. “I swear, I’m going to change it. I’m not even home yet.”

“Shut up, that isn’t what it’s about. Fairies, man, you know the thing I was researching before you bailed? I think we can negotiate without getting turned into their slaves.”

“Okay. Email me details and I’ll text everyone about a pack meeting at my house tomorrow so you can explain it to the Pack. Can your dad make it?”

Eyes closed, Stiles tried to picture this week’s schedule. “He’s on nights. Don’t make it too early.”

“Sorry I didn’t have your back with the iPod thing, it was sort of funny. I just couldn’t remember why you picked his name.”

“It turned out to be a pretty kickass theme. Music to Brood By was an awesome playlist.” It was. He’d had a bunch of instrumental tracks from movie soundtracks that he used to listen to when he was caught up in his head, and managed to get him back on track every time.

“Running in the Woods was my favorite. But try to look at it from his POV. It seems really creepy if he doesn’t know that you name everything after someone you know. Did he know about the phone named after me?”

“No. Just that the name wasn’t meant as an insult.”

“You naming your phone after me was an insult.”

“It fit, it kept dropping calls.”

“I’ve gotten better. But maybe you should stop naming things after people you know.”

Stiles flopped back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah. Maybe.”

“And if things are weird between you and Derek again, you get to fix it. I might be Alpha, but you deal with your own mess.”

“Weird… again?” Stiles covered his face. “The only time it was weird was when you thought it was us vs him. We were fine after the pool. You were the weird one.”

“Whatever. Meeting tomorrow, and figure out a gameplan if you broke the Pack.”

“Yeah yeah.” Stiles ended the call, staring up at the small crack in his ceiling, trying to decide if it looked like a snake or seaweed.

***

Things were weird. At the meeting, Derek paid attention while Stiles talked about the research about the faeries, but from a spot on the wall. Arms crossed. All he needed was a leather jacket, and it was old Derek all over again.

“So, yeah. We need some sort of gift. All the stories about successful negotiations had some sort of offering that was simple. Shells, rocks.” Stiles set down his stack of photocopies and printouts. “Suggestions welcome.”

The Sheriff shifted uncomfortably in the chair he’d dragged in from the dining room. “Do you know why they were accepted?”

“In Peter’s bestiary,” Derek said, his voice softer than Stiles had been expecting. “It mentioned that gifts are usually from the region. Something you can’t get anywhere else.”

“Thanks Derek,” Scott said. “Lydia?”

Lydia stood, reaching for her phone. “I’ll start looking for something suitable. Something local and natural.”

Scott nodded. “Thanks. Do you need help?”

“Allison can help me.”

Allison stood, removing her hand from Isaac’s. “The Farmer’s Market is tomorrow morning, we might be able to find something nice there.”

Scott seemed pleased, and Derek did too. Not that Stiles was watching him more closely than anything. Everyone started to get up, and which meant Stiles missed Scott saying that the meeting was over.

He exhaled, turning to his dad. “Breakfast tomorrow?”

“Sorry, kiddo. New deputy, so we’re all going out. Promise I’ll avoid ordering sausage.”

Stiles nodded, trying to see who was left in the room. Isaac was busy talking with Melissa and Scott. Allison and Lydia were heading out the door, and Derek was- gone. Vanished.

Fuck.

He took the plate of meatloaf that Melissa insisted he take with him, and found himself staring at the crack on the ceiling of his room for almost the entire night. He decided it looked like a sandworm from Dune.

***

Derek’s new apartment (new new, technically. His first place after the loft was a complex where he shared a wall with a witch who hated that Derek and the rest of the pack would come in and out at all hours) was on the opposite side of town. While it had cut down on Derek appearing at his window at all hours, it meant that Stiles had to come up with a reasonable excuse to show up unannounced.

As far as excuses went, buying a new pair of scrubs for Melissa wasn’t the best, but he probably did owe her a pair. And the store was near the hospital, and really close to Derek's apartment. Plus the entire pack probably each owed her a pair.

The downside of trying to talk to Derek was that the asshole could hear him coming, which meant that the door was currently being blocked by a million pounds of pissed off werewolf. “What.”

“I was buying a new pair of scrubs for Melissa and thought I’d say hey since I was in the neighborhood.”

“Since when do you buy her scrubs?”

“Overheard her and my dad commiserating about,” he pantomimed the fangs since they were still in the hallway, “and I couldn’t sleep last night and thought of the gnomes, so it seemed right to make up for that.” Which was sort of the truth. He had overheard the conversation, but they were mostly whining about how much food the Pack went through.

“Don’t tell me, you’re here for a donation since we’ve all bled on her?”

“No. I just… look, I know you’re still pissed at me, and I can see why. But I just… I name stuff after people. There was a Scott phone.”

Derek paused, still not moving from the doorway. “If that was the one that kept dropping calls, you aren’t really helping yourself.”

“The phone after that was Allison. My last iPod was Lydia. The first one I named for my mom. I just… it’s easier to give it the name of someone I know.”

“The Jeep’s Betty.”

“My mom’s mom.” Stiles exhaled, letting his shoulders droop forward. “At the time, I wasn’t sleeping, you were gone- it’s just a thing I do. But I am sorry about the playlists. I might have made a couple themed ones.”

“Stiles.”

“In the interest of honesty, it was more than a few Derek Hale themed.” He shrugged.

“I’m sure those weren’t a mockery,” Derek said, and Stiles wondered if he sounded that bitter when he used sarcasm. The eyebrows were still locked in full judgmental formation, and Stiles wondered if he should just cut and run.

“Okay, Music to Brood By was named as a joke, but it was a bunch of instrumental stuff that actually got me out of my head when things were weird, so it was helpful and kept me from going crazy. There was Running in the Woods, which I still use for workouts because it’s all stuff with the right BPM.”

Derek stepped out of the doorway, and Stiles started to turn. “Come on in,” Derek said quietly.

“What? I mean, thanks.” He took a seat at his usual place on the couch, completely unsure of what was going on. He’d been expecting Derek to growl and tell him to leave. “I don’t really have anything else to say about it. Just that I know it made things weird, and I wish I hadn’t done it.”

“It was when I was gone?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t sleeping, so I was up a lot in the middle of the night. And playlists seemed a lot more productive than walking to the Nemeton.”

Derek sat down at the other end of the couch. “You actually missed me.” It wasn’t a question, but Derek rarely phrased things as questions, so Stiles wasn’t sure if he expected an answer.

“Dude. Who else was going to keep me alive long enough for Scott to save the day?” Stiles blinked, trying to figure out why his heart was pounding.

“What were the other playlists?” The eyebrows weren’t nearly as judgmental.

“Uh, Requiem for the Camaro, which was all road trip stuff. I Secretly Know All the Words which had all the pop stuff that I’d seen you sort of nod your head to even if you kept hissing at me to change the radio station-” Stiles stopped himself, wondering how he’d missed it. He’d spent so long jerking off to Derek, convincing himself that the werewolf was even more unattainable than Lydia, he hadn’t even realized that he had feelings. Real feelings- enough that he'd named his iPod after him just so he could feel like Derek was still around. He started to feel tightness in his chest as it dawned on him that he was sitting next to someone who could hear his heartbeat and probably smell something embarrassing- Scott was pretty unhelpful when it came to debunking werewolf porn’s theory that they could scent emotions. “Uh, I gotta go. I think there’s another book on faeries I should read to make sure we aren’t wrong.”

Derek’s hand closed around his wrist, a hot and solid weight. “That’s a lie. Tell me the real reason you want to leave and I’ll let go.”

“Okay, I just… I said way too much and now I’m going to go die of shame.”

Derek let go, still looking down at Stiles’s hand with a look that Stiles wasn’t sure he’d ever seen before. It was strangely guarded. “You’re still in high school.”

“I know, there’s probably a long line of people in my theoretical future waiting for me. And they'll probably reject me, too. I’m sort of getting used to it.”

“Reject you?” Derek’s head snapped up, voice tight.

Stiles blinked. “Wasn’t that where this was going? The whole, you don’t know what you want, you’re still in high school and have your whole life ahead of you speech?”

“No. I just. I wasn’t going to say anything until after you graduated, if you weren’t dating someone. But you’re here, and-”

He exhaled, blinking a few more times. “I… this… what?” His voice cracked.

Derek laughed, a small huff. “Need some water?”

Stiles nodded. “I didn’t even realize that I felt like this until now, how did you-“

“You said I replaced Lydia. Who replaced your mom.” He disappeared into the small kitchen. “You made playlists that had to do with me that weren’t about how much you hate me.”

Sure. It made sense when someone else said it. Stiles watched Derek walk back to the couch. “You've felt like this for awhile?”

Derek sat down next to Stiles, handing him a bottle of water. “I missed you when I was gone. Had a great time with Cora, but it was really quiet. ”

“Thought that would have been heaven.” They’d had enough arguments about how much Stiles talked.

“She never figured out what kind of music I like.”

“Well, I’m guessing you two actually talk, so she didn’t have to learn to understand the minutia of eyebrow speak.”

That was enough to make Derek smile. It was a small, private sort of smile- not the wide grin he sometimes wore like a mask. “Do you have plans for Friday night?”

“My social schedule’s pretty packed,” Stiles said, feeling comfortable enough to grin. “What with me, myself and I. But I think I can move things around.”

Derek’s eyes flickered down towards Stiles’s mouth as he leaned in. “I can make it worth your while.”

Stiles couldn’t even come up with a clever retort, his brain was too busy wrapping itself around the fact that Derek was kissing him, and reminding him that he needed to be part of it. It wasn’t the violent sort of clash he’d imagined while jacking off, but a lot gentler. Almost like Derek really wasn’t sure it was happening either.

Stiles’s phone started to vibrate, making both of them stop. “You should get that,” Derek said, his breath hot on Stiles’s cheek.

Reluctantly, Stiles looked down where Lydia’s name flashed. “Don’t go anywhere.” Stiles put the phone on speaker. “Lydia, love of my life, what can I do for you?” Even he could hear the lie in that one, and judging by the smile on Derek’s face, he’d heard it too.

“We found some honey at the farmer’s market, collected by a sweet church lady, or something. Some fleece from a local shepherd. And a necklace made from locally sourced stones.”

“That would work,” Derek said quietly.

“You didn’t tell me I was on speaker,” Lydia hissed.

“He would have heard you anyways.” Stiles bit back a laugh, finding himself distracted by Derek’s eyelashes. Had they always been that long? “You should take it all to Scott.”

“He’s at work, and his phone’s off. But he said to call you or Derek to get confirmation that it would work.” Lydia kept talking, but Stiles had no idea what she was saying because Derek was too busy mouthing along his jaw.

“Well, put it all in a safe spot with some iron around it and I’ll uh, get back to you.” Stiles hoped it didn’t sound as high as it did in his head. He ended the call and tossed the phone towards the coffee table.

“You’re gonna to break it.” Derek nosed at Stiles’s neck, taking a deep sniff. “Then you’ll have to buy a new one, pick a new name.”

“This isn’t weird. Shouldn’t it be a little weird?”

“No.”

“Get back up here.” Stiles shifted, grabbing a fistful of Derek’s t-shirt to try to haul the werewolf back up towards his mouth. “Ugh, you weigh a ton.”

“Glad to see you aren't going to pretend to be someone else,” Derek huffed, before managing to lick his way into Stiles’s mouth. The licking was another thing that probably would have seemed weird a few years ago, but Stiles couldn’t help the broken moan it caused, or the buck of his hips. 

Somehow, and Stiles couldn’t figure out how, they’d ended up laying down on the couch with Derek laying on top of him. It was enough to make him stop, and realize that it hadn't even been twenty minutes before he realized actually liked Derek. Derek pushed himself back, brows furrowed. “You okay?”

“This might be going a little fast?”

“This coming from the guy who begged half his school to help him lose his virginity?” The tone was soft, not Derek’s usual gruff tease.

“At the time, we thought that it was just virgins being targeted.” He still found himself frowning, even though he knew Derek didn’t mean anything by it. “It sounds stupid talking about taking anything slower, considering the first time I spent any time with you, you asked me to cut off your arm. Just, I want-“

“To make sure we do this right?”

Stiles took a deep breath, using the extra space to start to sit up. “Yeah.”

“I get it.” Derek shifted, sitting next to Stiles. His thumb stroked the inside of his wrist, gently, and Stiles was relieved that Derek wasn't hurt. He got it. “You should go, then.”

Stiles nodded again, trying not to look at the way Derek’s lips were still wet, or how blown his pupils were. “Are you doing anything tomorrow night? Not sure I can wait until Friday.”

Derek smiled again. “Depends on the faeries, but yeah.”

“Well, my dad’s still on nights. So I might be watching X2 and having takeout. If someone wanted to come over.” He managed to stand, picking his phone up from the floor. “This one’s Catwoman, by the way. I got the model that’s supposed to be for sporty people, so she’s surprisingly durable.” Stiles glanced back, worried it would make the smile fade.

“After Erica?” Derek was still smiling, and Stiles found himself a little surprised he remembered that he’d called her Catwoman.

“Yeah.” Stiles double checked that she was still working. Power on, signal good. Except that it was almost 5 pm, and there was a reminder for- “Crap.”

“Did you forget you have a shift tonight?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he walked towards the door. “Too busy focusing on making sure you knew-“

“I understand, now.” Derek leaned back, feet crossed at the ankle. “You’ll have to show me the playlists.”

“Well, that’s just a little personal.” Stiles laughed as he got to the front door. “Maybe on the third date, Hale.”

Derek actually laughed at that one, an honest to goodness bark of laughter. “Gonna hold you to that, Stilinski.”

He waited until he was pulling into the parking lot at the bookstore before he called Scott, leaving a voicemail. “Hey. Straightened things out with Derek. Turns out, I sort of like him. Like him like him. And he was upset because he likes me and though it meant I didn’t… and he kissed me. I’d tell you more, but all you did when you got with Allison was give me details. So gonna be the bigger man. Anyways, I kind of have a date tomorrow. So… yeah.” He hung up the phone, tucking his keys into his pocket.

Midway through his shift, he got a text from Scott. “FINALLY. No deets. Ever.” Another followed shortly after it. “Planning on meeting w/ faeries tom, but U 2 took long enough. U get the night off. No deets. SRS.”

**

Both of their phones started to vibrate midway through X2. Derek pulled back from Stiles, running his thumb over Stiles’s lip. It felt swollen. “What do you think happened?”

“He had to have done something stupid.” Stiles sighed. “He promised not to bug us.”

Derek already was reaching for his phone with his free hand. “Lydia says the negotiations went well, but Scott ate some food that was offered. The fae are leaving, and said he’d feel better in the morning.” It vibrated again. “She suggests we turn off our phones.”

Shit. Stiles had given them a whole list of things not to do. They weren’t supposed to accept anything. No gifts, and definitely nothing to eat or drink. He checked his own phone, which had three messages from Scott. “Scott says the sky tastes purple. And apparently the Fae Queen is really hot, but he doesn’t know why Isaac and Allison are mad at that.” He exhaled, turning it off. “Where were we?”

Derek’s arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer.

“Right.” Stiles cupped Derek’s jaw, leaning in for another kiss.

Derek turned his head at the last minute, stubble scraping against his cheek. “Wait. You never said what you named your iPod now?”

Stiles could feel the blush spreading across his cheeks. “It’s Sourwolf.”

He couldn’t see the look on Derek’s face, but he could feel the smile. “Good,” Derek mumbled as he dove back in for another kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> I am wingedkiare over on Tumblr. I post SPN, TW, and geeky stuff.
> 
> WTB - is MMORPG chat slang for Want to Buy. So he WTB a TARDIS.
> 
> Also, you'll never convince me that Scott texts in actual sentences, no matter how much Derek tries to tell him they all waste time trying to figure out what he means.
> 
> The texts from Scott while under fairy influence? - "Stiles, ski tastes PRPLE" "Dude, fae queen s so hawt." "Issac n Alli r so mad. u no y?"


End file.
